# CVE-2023-52570: vfio/mdev: Fix a null-ptr-deref bug for mdev_unregister_parent()

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's vfio/mdev subsystem can cause a system crash when unregistering a parent device.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52570, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52570, GHSA-gfh2-325r-ffgp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52570

## What is CVE-2023-52570?

CVE-2023-52570 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

vfio/mdev: Fix a null-ptr-deref bug for mdev_unregister_parent()

Inject fault while probing mdpy.ko, if kstrdup() of create_dir() fails in
kobject_add_internal() in kobject_init_and_add() in mdev_type_add()
in parent_create_sysfs_files(), it will return 0 and probe successfully.
And when rmmod mdpy.ko, the mdpy_dev_exit() will call
mdev_unregister_parent(), the mdev_type_remove() may traverse uninitialized
parent->types[i] in parent_remove_sysfs_files(), and it will cause
below null-ptr-deref.

If mdev_type_add() fails, return the error code and kset_unregister()
to fix the issue.

 general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000002: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017]
 CPU: 2 PID: 10215 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G        W        N 6.6.0-rc2+ #20
 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014
 RIP: 0010:__kobject_del+0x62/0x1c0
 Code: 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 51 01 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8b 6b 28 48 8d 7d 10 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 24 01 00 00 48 8b 75 10 48 89 df 48 8d 6b 3c e8
 RSP: 0018:ffff88810695fd30 EFLAGS: 00010202
 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffffffa0270268 RCX: 0000000000000000
 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000010
 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffed10233a4ef1
 R10: ffff888119d2778b R11: 0000000063666572 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: fffffbfff404e2d4 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffffffffa0271660
 FS:  00007fbc81981540(0000) GS:ffff888119d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: 00007fc14a142dc0 CR3: 0000000110a62003 CR4: 0000000000770ee0
 DR0: ffffffff8fb0bce8 DR1: ffffffff8fb0bce9 DR2: ffffffff8fb0bcea
 DR3: ffffffff8fb0bceb DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000600
 PKRU: 55555554
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  ? die_addr+0x3d/0xa0
  ? exc_general_protection+0x144/0x220
  ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x22/0x30
  ? __kobject_del+0x62/0x1c0
  kobject_del+0x32/0x50
  parent_remove_sysfs_files+0xd6/0x170 [mdev]
  mdev_unregister_parent+0xfb/0x190 [mdev]
  ? mdev_register_parent+0x270/0x270 [mdev]
  ? find_module_all+0x9d/0xe0
  mdpy_dev_exit+0x17/0x63 [mdpy]
  __do_sys_delete_module.constprop.0+0x2fa/0x4b0
  ? module_flags+0x300/0x300
  ? __fput+0x4e7/0xa00
  do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
 RIP: 0033:0x7fbc813221b7
 Code: 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d d1 8c 2c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 b8 b0 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d a1 8c 2c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48
 RSP: 002b:00007ffe780e0648 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000b0
 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffe780e06a8 RCX: 00007fbc813221b7
 RDX: 000000000000000a RSI: 0000000000000800 RDI: 000055e214df9b58
 RBP: 000055e214df9af0 R08: 00007ffe780df5c1 R09: 0000000000000000
 R10: 00007fbc8139ecc0 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 00007ffe780e0870
 R13: 00007ffe780e0ed0 R14: 000055e214df9260 R15: 000055e214df9af0
  </TASK>
 Modules linked in: mdpy(-) mdev vfio_iommu_type1 vfio [last unloaded: mdpy]
 Dumping ftrace buffer:
    (ftrace buffer empty)
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
 RIP: 0010:__kobject_del+0x62/0x1c0
 Code: 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 51 01 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8b 6b 28 48 8d 7d 10 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 24 01 00 00 48 8b 75 10 48 89 df 48 8d 6b 3c e8
 RSP: 0018:ffff88810695fd30 EFLAGS: 00010202
 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffffffa0270268 RCX: 0000000000000000
 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000010
 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffed10233a4ef1
 R10: ffff888119d2778b R11: 0000000063666572 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: fffffbfff404e2d4 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffffffffa0271660
 FS:  00007fbc81981540(0000) GS:ffff888119d00000(000
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52570?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52570?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52570 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52570 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52570 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52570 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52570 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52570/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52570/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52570
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52570
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52570

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52570/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.